O.C. worshippers and clergy include shootings' victims in their prayers.

That's what's left after a shooting that took the lives of 20 children and six adults in Connecticut.

“We live in a messed-up world,” is how Irvine pastor Jeff Suhr opened his Sunday sermon.

The title of his message to the New Life Mission Church congregation: “Living in a Fallen World.”

The shooting, he said, is a “stark reminder that the world we live in is not right. It's broken. It's fallen.”

Across Orange County, many religious leaders this weekend addressed Friday's shooting in Newtown, Conn., where a gunman opened fire in an elementary school.

Some leaders called for prayer. Others, for action.

In Seal Beach, the Connecticut massacre wasn't the focus of Sunday's sermon at Grace Community Church in Old Town. But it was on everyone's mind, said pastor emeritus Don Shoemaker.

“During prayer time, there was an extreme sense of bonding with that community,” Shoemaker said. “We understand in a small way what they are going through.”

Grace Community Church was one of several congregations that served the beach town following the mass slaying last year at Salon Meritage, where a gunman killed eight people and injured a ninth.

The message to the congregation from Grace Community senior pastor Steve Williams revolved around Christ as “the light of the world.”

“Certainly, this is a very dark side of our society. It's unimaginable how people can carry out such horrific attacks, especially on children,” Williams said he told the congregation. “There is evil in the world, and that is part of the darkness. … For us, as Christians, we need to reflect Christ's light.”

At the Center for Spiritual Living in Seal Beach, which is across the street from Salon Meritage and served as a refuge immediately following the shooting there, the Connecticut shooting was the focus of Sunday's sermon.

“Many times, we think about all these people who do such violence and such harm. But for everyone who inflicts that kind of violence, there are thousands more who do good will. And we come together at these times in support of others,” the Rev. Peggy Price said she told some 200 congregants.

Police reported the death toll in Newtown at 28, including six adults at the school, the mother of the gunman and the gunman himself, who committed suicide.

At University Synagogue in Irvine, Rabbi Arnold Rachlis spoke of the Connecticut shootings during Friday night's service. It was Hanukkah, and the service was attended by throngs of children.

“I addressed the kids and I told them they were safe, but people always have to be cautious,” Rachlis said Sunday. “There are dangers in the world. But their parents are strong, and their teachers are strong, and their schools are safe. It was important to reassure them.”

The rabbi also addressed the parents and suggested they be the gatekeepers of information.

“We are all mourning. And we are all curious. But we should not overwhelm the kids,” he said.

Rachlis also addressed “the excess of gun violence in the United States.”

“We can't just mourn, but refuse to act, and end up mourning the next tragedy because of that inaction,” Rachlis said. “I spoke about the need to pressure the government to tighten up gun rules. And the need to increase funding for mental health.

“We all feel paralyzed in mourning. That's understandable for today. But for tomorrow, we ask that we sow the seed to prevent it from happening again,” Rachlis said.

Meanwhile, at the Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove, pastor Glenn DeMaster briefly addressed the “tragic loss of life” during his opening invocation Sunday morning and asked the hundreds gathered to remember the parents and teachers affected by the tragedy.

Suhr, the New Life Mission Church pastor, talked about how overwhelming it is to think of what the children and parents are going through.

“Why? Why does this happen?” asked Suhr, the father of three young children.

He said the Bible answers: “We live in a fallen world among fallen people.”

Kathy Kim, 39, of Anaheim attends the church. She's an elementary-school teacher and said news of the shooting “hit even closer to home” because of that.

“God is the ultimate healer,” she said. “He's the ultimate comforter.”

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